What temp do you run?

[SeaHorse_Fanatic]

78 F. Ideally one or two degrees higher, but that's what it seems to stay stable at. It's at 77.9 right now and may drift to 78.5 or so.

Anthony

[Scythanith]

78-79 F

[kien]

I think the answer is yes, some of us run a different temperature every day. Myself included. My temperature at night drops to 77 degrees. That's what my heaters are set to. I run halides so during the day my temperature will gradually rise to about 80 degrees. This is during the winter months mind you. During the summer the house is a lot warmer so my upper temperature will go up to 83. As a result I try to remember to raise the lower end of my temp to 79, this way there's less swing.

Having said that, I have no clue what would give "best results". I suppose "best results" can be variable as well. For me "best results" is when things don't die.

[mikellini]

I think the key is consistency, and I don't mean necessarily one temperature. For example, if you consistently have a 2-3 degree temp swing, that's probably OK, but the problem is when your AC breaks or something else happens to make the temp swing larger (or perhaps smaller).

I actually think there's something to be said about small regular temp swings. I was thinking about programming one into my apex, to hit a low of 77.5 in the middle of the night (2AM) and 78.5 at 2PM. Currently it's set to 77.7-77.8, and fluctuates from 77.6-78...

[aquatechy]

Originally Posted by mikellini

I think the key is consistency, and I don't mean necessarily one temperature. For example, if you consistently have a 2-3 degree temp swing, that's probably OK, but the problem is when your AC breaks or something else happens to make the temp swing larger (or perhaps smaller).

+1 on this. The actual temperature is not that big a deal, provided it is within a healthy range. Keeping it consistent is more important.

[MitchM]

Temperature IS important.

From the article I posted:

The most rapid growth of most corals is generally around 27°C to 29°C (80.6°F to 84.2°F) (Barnes et al., 1995; Clausen and Roth, 1975; Weber and White 1976; Coles and Jokiel, 1977, 1978; Highsmith, 1979a, b; Highsmith, et al., 1983).

and..


A recent study shows how differences of only a couple of degrees Celsius determine the distribution of Montastrea annularis populations in the Gulf of Mexico and in the Caribbean Sea, proper ( Carricart-Ganivet, 2004 ). In this case, the no growth lower limit of zero calcification occurred at 23.7°C (74.7°F) in corals from the Gulf of Mexico and at 25.5°C (77.9°F) in corals from the Caribbean Sea.

[Jordon]

I run at 80 degrees. Some of my Zoas close at 82. Not sure if it's just me, or anyone else has seen a physical response from a small difference in temp?